{"doi":"10.3389/fendo.2022.881982","title":"Lower Circulating Leptin Levels Are Related to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Children With Obesity","abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>While for individuals with obesity an association between hyperleptinemia and an increased risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is assumed, a leptin deficiency is also related to the development of NAFLD early in life in <jats:italic>ob/ob</jats:italic> mice, in patients with leptin deficiency due to biallelic likely pathogenic variants in the leptin gene, and in patients with lipodystrophy.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives</jats:title><jats:p>To investigate the association of circulating leptin levels in pre-pubertal children with obesity and steatosis hepatis.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>The cross-sectional study consisted data of n=97 (n<jats:sub>male</jats:sub>=76) pre-pubertal children (11.8 ± 1.5 years) with obesity (BMIz: 2.4 ± 0.4). Fasting concentrations of cardiometabolic parameters were measured: insulin, c-peptide, glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, HDL, LDL, AST, ALT, GGT, leptin. Steatosis hepatis was diagnosed by an ultrasound examination (mild, moderate or severe). Patients were categorized into two groups: low z-score of circulating leptin levels (≤25th percentile) vs. normal z-score of circulating leptin levels.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>One-third of the children with obesity were diagnosed with steatosis hepatis (I°: 63.6%, II°/III°: 36.4%). Children with steatosis hepatis had significantly lower z-scores of circulating leptin levels compared to children with an unremarkable liver ultrasonography (-2.1 ± 0.8 vs. -0.7 ± 0.6). Z-scores of circulating leptin levels correlate negatively with degree of steatosis hepatis. Children with low z-scores of circulating leptin levels had significantly higher triglyceride, fasting insulin and c-peptide levels compared to children with normal z-scores of circulating leptin levels.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Prepubertal children with NAFLD and obesity and partial leptin deficiency might be defined as a clinical subgroup.</jats:p></jats:sec>","journal":"Frontiers in Endocrinology","year":2022,"id":645109,"datarank":0.24141568686511508,"base_score":1.6094379124341003,"endowment":1.6094379124341003,"self_citation_contribution":0.24141568686511508,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.24141568686511508,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":4,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1436920,"name":"Julia von Schnurbein","orcid":"0000-0001-9918-664X","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1679591,"name":"Christian Denzer","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":21792,"name":"Wolfgang Kratzer","orcid":"0000-0002-9727-3843","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":371571,"name":"Martin Wabitsch","orcid":"0000-0001-6795-8430","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":585072,"name":"Stephanie Brandt","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Lower Circulating Leptin Levels Are Related to Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Children With Obesity","abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>While for individuals with obesity an association between hyperleptinemia and an increased risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is assumed, a leptin deficiency is also related to the development of NAFLD early in life in <jats:italic>ob/ob</jats:italic> mice, in patients with leptin deficiency due to biallelic likely pathogenic variants in the leptin gene, and in patients with lipodystrophy.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives</jats:title><jats:p>To investigate the association of circulating leptin levels in pre-pubertal children with obesity and steatosis hepatis.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>The cross-sectional study consisted data of n=97 (n<jats:sub>male</jats:sub>=76) pre-pubertal children (11.8 ± 1.5 years) with obesity (BMIz: 2.4 ± 0.4). Fasting concentrations of cardiometabolic parameters were measured: insulin, c-peptide, glucose, triglyceride, cholesterol, HDL, LDL, AST, ALT, GGT, leptin. Steatosis hepatis was diagnosed by an ultrasound examination (mild, moderate or severe). Patients were categorized into two groups: low z-score of circulating leptin levels (≤25th percentile) vs. normal z-score of circulating leptin levels.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>One-third of the children with obesity were diagnosed with steatosis hepatis (I°: 63.6%, II°/III°: 36.4%). Children with steatosis hepatis had significantly lower z-scores of circulating leptin levels compared to children with an unremarkable liver ultrasonography (-2.1 ± 0.8 vs. -0.7 ± 0.6). Z-scores of circulating leptin levels correlate negatively with degree of steatosis hepatis. Children with low z-scores of circulating leptin levels had significantly higher triglyceride, fasting insulin and c-peptide levels compared to children with normal z-scores of circulating leptin levels.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Prepubertal children with NAFLD and obesity and partial leptin deficiency might be defined as a clinical subgroup.</jats:p></jats:sec>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"35677722","pmcid":"PMC9169562","openalex_id":null,"authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"Ferring Pharmaceuticals","grant_id":"","title":null}],"total_grants":1,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":"gold","license":"cc-by","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2022.881982/pdf","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2022.881982/full","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doaj.org/article/8138b53b302e4b848ccc71c7015b5c9d","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/9169562","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC9169562","host_type":"Europe_PMC"},{"url":"https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC9169562?pdf=render","host_type":"Europe_PMC"}],"fields_of_study":[],"mesh_terms":["Humans","Insulin","C-Peptide","Leptin","Triglycerides","Body Mass Index","Cross-Sectional Studies","Child","Female","Male","Pediatric Obesity","Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease"],"keywords":["Obesity","Children","Leptin","Nafld","Partial Leptin Deficiency"],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-09T02:54:51.882982Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}